Last Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party voted down a motion to freeze funding for the Palestinian Authority until it stops its “pay to slay” imbursements to terrorists and their families. The motion stated that “with the payments, the PA knowingly and willingly supports terror against Israel and makes this a worthy financial business.” But Merkel’s party wasn’t moved.

One day later, a Palestinian terror attack seriously wounded a pregnant woman. The baby, who was delivered in an emergency procedure, held out for a few days and died on Wednesday

In October during a visit to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum, Merkel referred to “the everlasting responsibility of Germany to remember this crime and to oppose anti-Semitism, xenophobia, hatred, and violence.”

Opposing anti-Semitism and those other ills, however, means little to Merkel when they bear a “Made in Iran” stamp. Last month, during one of Iran’s hundreds of direct or implicit calls for Israel’s destruction, Iran’s allegedly “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani called Israel a “cancerous tumor in the region” and a “fake regime.” The European Union, of which Germany stands at the helm, called Rouhani’s words “totally unacceptable.”

But this was just lip service. As Iran threatens Israel with destruction, funds and trains terror organizations along Israel’s borders, denies the Holocaust, builds ballistic missiles, sows mayhem throughout the Middle East, and commits severe human rights abuses at home, Germany “remains Iran’s most important trade partner.” Last month, flouting U.S. sanctions on Iran, the German government extended 911 million euros in export credits to 58 German companies. The credits are aimed at “protecting [these companies’] business dealings with Iran from the high risks of its markets.” Indeed, German firms’ exports to Iran had already soared in October.

Later in November, news reports revealed that Germany and France are taking the lead in devising an EU-Iran trade mechanism known as the “Special Purpose Vehicle” to help Iran ride out the U.S. sanctions. The SVP would essentially be “a clearing house that avoids monetary transfers in [U.S.] dollars between the EU and Iran.”

Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are doing their utmost to keep the ayatollah regime afloat, prosperous, and able to finance all of its activities.

Merkel’s toxicity to Israel and overtures toward Iran go still further. Last week, Tomas Sandell, director of the Brussels-based European Coalition for Israel, announced that Merkel had “waged a campaign to prevent central and eastern European countries from moving their [embassies from Tel Aviv] to Jerusalem.” Sandell said this and other anti-Israel moves by Merkel “have to do with the Iran nuclear deal.”

The report implied, yet did not explicitly state, that Merkel is acting at Iran’s beck and call to stymie moves that would upset the mullahs. In light of Merkel’s moves that shield and support Iran, this implication is quite plausible.

Under Merkel, not all of Germany’s behavior toward Israel is in the debit column. Germany is Israel’s leading European trade partner, and its firms invest heavily in Israeli startups. There is cooperation in the security sphere, too; earlier this year Germany signed a contract to lease Heron UAVs from Israel Aerospace Industries.

However, the overall balance sheet under Chancellor Merkel regarding Israel is negative, leaving a question as to whether her administration is friend or foe.

The website Iran Front Pageproudly announces: “The first edition of International Hourglass Festival, dedicated to anti-Israel art and media productions, will be held in the Iranian capital Tehran in April.”

Last week a press conference on the festival was held in Tehran. During it Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, identified as “the Secretary-General of the International Conference on Supporting Palestinian Intifada and an international advisor to Iran’s Parliament Speaker,” explained that “the ‘Hourglass Festival’ is a symbol of the imminent collapse of the Zionist regime of Israel, as predicted by the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.”

Amir-Abdollahian further explained that he “cannot publicize the Islamic Republic’s plan to realize the Leader’s prediction that the Israeli regime will collapse within 25 years, but it will definitely happen.”

What will the Hourglass Festival be like? Its executive secretary, Mahdi Qomi, offers a preview, saying it “will be held in 11 sections”:

Audio-visual productions, graphic design (poster, cartoons, etc.), mobile apps, mobile and web-based games, social media and websites, animation, motion-graphics, start-ups are among the fields in which the festival accepts entries.

The festival will accept entries until April 21, when all the submitted works will be put on display to the public….

The organizers will work with 2,400 anti-Israel NGOs in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Eastern Asia to promote the festival across the world, Qomi said.

The website for the festival itself features a disappearing Star of David. It declares that “Israel Will Not Exist in 25 Years: if the resistance from [sic] stands firm, the enemy cannot do a damn thing,” while offering instructions for submissions and much else.

Seemingly this is news; it’s one UN member-state not only calling for the destruction of another UN member-state but holding an international festival devoted to that goal. Yet so far it is almost solely some Israeli and pro-Israeli websites that have reported the development.

This is hard, of course, the first time Iranian leaders and officials have openly called for Israel’s eradication. Apparently, if you do it enough it becomes humdrum and acceptable—even with the added twist of an international effort, in tandem with “2,400 NGOs,” to instill the notion that the Jewish state needs to be wiped off the face of the earth.

Meanwhile, West European countries are in a state of anxiety over President Trump’s warning that unless the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA, is seriously modified, he will withdraw from the deal and reinstate U.S. sanctions. These countries regard Iran—ayatollah regime and all—as an invaluable business partner to be protected at all costs.

European countries are battling to save commercial ties with Iran as part of a wider effort to stop the US upending the landmark deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme. [That includes] contingency plans to protect companies such as Airbus, Total, Siemens and Peugeot, which have all struck deals in Iran….

[Since the JCPOA] trade between Iran and the EU, which was Tehran’s top trading partner before broad economic sanctions were imposed in 2010, has all but doubled annually to almost €10bn for the first half of [2017]….

It turns out Germany is one of the countries reaping a bonanza from this renewed trade. In the first nine months of 2017 “Germany sold 2.358 billion euros worth of goods ($2.846 billion) to Iran,” while it “imported just $328 million worth of goods from Iran”—a huge trade surplus in Germany’s favor. And “German exports to Iran…remain on a steep upward curve.”

The article—posted on the Deutsche Welle site—complains that “The Trump Administration has taken a strident anti-Iranian tone, as have the political establishments of Israel and the Gulf Arab countries.” That is, even though Iran sponsors subversion and terror against Israel and Gulf Arab countries and threatens their destruction, strident tones are something to avoid when German business is at stake.

At the Munich Security Conference in February, U.S. national security adviser H. R. McMaster and Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir raised the issue that European funds are flowing to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Revolutionary Guard is the main engine of Iranian subversion and terror and is believed to control about a third of Iran’s economy.

Yet CNBC reports that Iran’s key business partners Germany, France, and the UK keep fighting the good fight for European multinationals Airbus, Siemens, Peugeot, and Total, all of which have “struck major deals in the country worth billions.”

When business is that good, it would be naïve in the extreme to think that any further Iranian outrage—even an innovation like the International Hourglass Festival—could swing the Euros toward Trump’s stance on reining in Iran.

Instead, it can be confidently predicted that the festival in April will go forward and most of the international community will keep trading with Iran and treating it as a respectable, legitimate country. Meanwhile, Israel’s government will be seen as “too right-wing.”

]]>The Allegations in the Bibi-Hunt: Spine-Chilling Stuffhttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/97748/allegations-bibi-hunt-spine-chilling-stuff-opinion/
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 05:00:57 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=97748What could prevent a phenomenon such as the Bibi-hunt would be an improvement in Israel’s political culture. ]]>

A report on Channel 10—a known stronghold of Bibi-animosity—claims that

senior law enforcement officials have concluded there is sufficient evidence to file an indictment against [Prime Minister Netanyahu] on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust…. The report quoted an unofficial police opinion according to which the evidence that has accumulated against Netanyahu is robust…. The State Attorney’s Office, Channel 10 reported, was also coming to the opinion that there are grounds to file an indictment on bribery, but was not as sure as the police.

Most of the latest purported information—once again leaked by the police, guardians of virtue in the Bibi-hunt who have leaked ruthlessly and systematically throughout this affair—concerns Case 1000, in which Netanyahu is alleged to have done favors for his longtime friend, businessman and movie mogul Arnon Milchan, in return for gifts of cigars and champagne.

In other words, the suspicions center on bribery—Netanyahu illicitly receiving stuff from Milchan as a quid pro quo.

And what is Netanyahu alleged to have done for Milchan in return for the “bribe”?

The charge that keeps reappearing is that Netanyahu asked then-secretary of state John Kerry to help get Milchan a ten-year visa so that Milchan could stay in the U.S. to do what he does there.

If it’s true, it’s not exactly spine-chilling. Let’s say you have a friend in the States who badly wants a long-term visa, and you have an ongoing connection with the secretary of state, with whom you converse for hours at a time. What would you do?

In normal times—one might even say in a normal country—this is not the stuff of which “corruption scandals” are made. If Netanyahu indeed asked for Kerry’s help with Milchan’s visa, it was an absolutely routine behavior of a kind that very few people involved in public life have not engaged in.

Even stranger, in this case, is that the ostensible “bribe” did not consist of money—usually, the stuff of which bribes are made—but of nonmonetary gifts. Netanyahu appears to acknowledge receiving these gifts of cigars and champagne from Milchan for years, saying that—again—this was within the normal, noncriminal bounds of human behavior, a friend giving presents to a friend.

What, then, constituted the bribe? If the Netanyahu-Milchan friendship goes back years—and that is not in dispute—it’s hard to imagine Netanyahu, in return for Milchan asking for help with the visa, needing some certain quantity of cigar boxes, or some certain set of champagne crates, as “the bribe.”

In other words, in the context of a long-standing friendship, the notion of such a “bribe” crosses the line into the absurd.

No less absurd is Case 2000, the second leg of the edifice of Bibi-allegations. It centers on an audiotape—found by the police entirely accidentally—in which Netanyahu discusses a deal with a newspaper mogul that was never acted upon and never even got off the ground.

In other words, the “crime” here consists of saying things and having them accidentally discovered, even though no illicit action of any kind was carried out.

But that’s the way it is with the Bibi-hunt, in which ordinary behavior turns into “criminal” allegations, huge sums of taxpayer money are spent on endless “investigations,” and the law-enforcement establishment openly, relentlessly, and shamelessly collaborates with the media to create an atmosphere of dark suspicion and wrongdoing for which—even according to the stories they keep feeding us—no basis exists.

What could prevent a phenomenon such as the Bibi-hunt would be an improvement in Israel’s political culture. Personal and political animosities toward a leader would not be allowed to overturn standards and norms, and a leader would not be treated as prey to be hunted down. People who want to unseat him would try to do so by playing the normal democratic game—even if they were likely to lose.

]]>A Primer for Netanyahu-Hatershttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/92765/primer-netanyahu-haters-opinion/
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 04:00:41 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=92765You’ve drawn a bead on Netanyahu, you’ve set him up as an axiomatically malign force. You need to stick to that view at all costs, and this primer can assist you in doing so.]]>

Quiet seems to have returned to the Temple Mount and its environs. Could it be that, overall, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handled the crisis successfully? Or perhaps he made tactical mistakes but succeeded on the strategic level? Or maybe it’s still too soon to say.

But if you’re a card-carrying Netanyahu-hater, you won’t even entertain such questions. Public Enemy No. 1 — the prime minister — always fails, is always venal, incompetent, and destructive. Since it might be hard to sustain this stance against countervailing evidence, below are some pointers on how to remain a good Netanyahu-hater through thick and thin.

1. Never give him credit.

Since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, Hamas has been in a state of abject defeat. It has stopped firing rockets almost completely; the few that are still fired are mostly the work of rogue elements. Normal life has returned to southern Israel. An achievement, no?

On the diplomatic front, Netanyahu’s achievements are unprecedented in Israeli history. Not only does Israel now have diplomatic relations with more countries than ever, but ties are tightening with powerhouses like Japan, China, and India. Israel is returning to Africa and again becoming a major benefactor of much of the continent, something that should yield diplomatic dividends for Israel. Even behind-the-scenes relations with Arab countries are flourishing. As for relations with the US, during the Obama era they were troubled; but now Obama is out, and they’re not troubled. Who caused the trouble — Obama or Netanyahu?

Meanwhile, the Bank of Israel reported that in 2016 the Israeli economy grew by 4%, GDP reached a new record, unemployment dropped further, private consumption increased by 6%, and the standard of living rose by 5%. In addition, foreign investment in 2016 surged dramatically. Of course, all isn’t rosy in the Israeli economy — housing prices and other prices are still way too high. But a lot is going right, too. Who’s been prime minister for the last eight years?

If, though, you’re a committed Netanyahu-hater, never give him credit for any of this security, diplomatic, or economic achievements. The best approach is simply not to mention them. Or, if anyone does mention them, be sure to deride them and harp on the negative.

2. Never feel a moment’s gratitude for any of his achievements.

Security, diplomatic, and economic improvements mean better lives for most Israelis — and, regarding parents, for their children’s lives too. But never even consider the disconcerting possibility that, at least in some important ways, Netanyahu as prime minister has made your own life, or your children’s lives, better. How could this be true of Public Enemy No. 1? Since, by definition, it can’t be true of him, never feel a moment’s gratitude for the ongoing, very hard work he does, under multiple, unimaginable pressures, for the good of the country.

3. Always hope that he’ll be toppled.

During the 2015 election campaign, there were multiple “scandals” that made haters hope Netanyahu would lose. Did his wife transfer state-supplied furniture from the official residence to a private residence? Did the couple order way too much ice cream? These days, of course, there are investigations in progress. Did he get way too many cigars as gifts? Did he hold meetings with a newspaper publisher in which they talked about a shady deal that was never, in any way, acted upon? Of course, if you work in media, do your utmost to create an atmosphere of incrimination, and to get damning quotes about Netanyahu from every frustrated, envious, grudge-bearing politician or ex-politician.

4. Never ask yourself if Netanyahu’s fall would actually be good for Israel.

Since he’s a demon who can do no right, it follows that his ouster would be good for the country. Or would it? Is there a potential replacement who can match Netanyahu’s deep, versatile understanding of international politics, economics, security issues, and how they intermesh? His command of English? His ability, for example, to get Putin to accept Israeli military activity in Syria against Putin’s own alliance? Or has Netanyahu been a fortunate figure for Israel, a person of rare sophistication in diverse domains and of terrific drive and energy? No, can’t be. If you’re a hater, you never have to ask yourself these questions because you’ve already ruled that the man is bad news.

5. Never ask yourself what your attitude toward him seems to imply about the Israeli people.

Netanyahu won an election in the 1990s, and since 2009 he’s won three in a row. His right-of-center bloc won all of those last three elections by a comfortable margin. If he is indeed the public enemy and demon you see him as, what would that say about the Israeli population that keeps reelecting him? Are Israelis so blind to their own interests, so boorishly incapable of assessing a leader’s performance, that they keep electing someone who—in your view—can only lead them from one disaster to the next? But, of course, you can dodge this difficult, sensitive question, too, and keep your sights trained on the scourge himself.

In conclusion, I hope these pointers have been helpful. You’ve drawn a bead on Netanyahu, you’ve set him up as an axiomatically malign force. You need to stick to that view at all costs, and this primer can assist you in doing so.

]]>Israel: U.S.-Russia Deal on Syria Gives Iran a Win, Is Unacceptablehttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/92021/israel-u-s-russia-deal-syria-gives-iran-win-unacceptable-opinion/
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 05:00:41 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=92021Earlier this week, after a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let the cat out of the bag.]]>

Earlier this week, after a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let the cat out of the bag. He said Israel was “totally opposed” to the U.S.-Russian ceasefire plan for southern Syria because it leaves Iran very much present — and gaining military power all the time — in the country.

According to the plan, a demarcation line in southern Syria near the Israeli border is supposed to keep Syrian government and allied forces on one side, rebel forces on the other. This “peace” is supposed to be policed by Russian troops; they are not exactly neutral actors, since they’re closely aligned with the Syrian camp.

That’s one problem Israel has with the plan. Another, as a “senior Israeli official” told the Israeli daily Haaretz:

[The agreement] doesn’t take almost any of Israel’s security interests [into account] and it creates a disturbing reality in southern Syria. The agreement doesn’t include a single explicit word about Iran, Hezbollah or the Shi’ite militias in Syria.

Iran has leased a military airfield from the Syrian government in the center of the country in order to station fighter aircraft. Iran is also negotiating with the Syrians to establish a land base for Shiite militiamen and a port in the city of Tartus.

The land base would be an Iranian autonomous base capable of supporting 5,000 Iranian militiamen believed to be mercenaries from Afghanistan and Pakistan under the command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

These steps represent a move by Iran to establish a long-term presence in Syria and pose a threat to Israel.

Another Israeli commentator, Middle East analyst Avi Issacharoff, takes a similarly dim view of the developments in Syria. Neither commentator is a backer of the Netanyahu government; the view is Israeli, not political. In a piece called “The Iranians are at the borders,” Issacharoff says that “the American military effort [against the Islamic State]” is actually:

… paving the way for the Iranians to take control over the area with close Russian assistance … Iran is already treating Syria like its 15th province (the 14th being Bahrain). It [already has] about 15,000 Shi’ite troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan there. Approximately 8,000 combat soldiers of Hezbollah and several hundred military advisors from the Revolutionary Guards are also deployed in Syria.

Issacharoff says further that Iran has already “received Assad’s consent, in principle,” for the seaport in Tartus, and that “the port is to be Iranian in every way, with no possibility for the Syrians to operate.”

As for the U.S.-Russian ceasefire, Issacharoff concludes that “paradoxically … [it] will help the Shi’ite axis far more than its opponents.”

Reportedly, Netanyahu conveyed the Israeli concerns by phone to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday. In an apparent response, attempting to calm Israeli nerves, a “White House official” told the Jerusalem Post:

“[B]oth governments — the United States and Israel — are rightly concerned about Iran’s malign influence in the region. … A core goal of U.S. policy in Syria is to ensure that no vacuum is created which Iran can fill.”

It remains to be seen whether that purportedly soothing message has a basis, or whether the Trump policy is getting disturbingly reminiscent of the Obama policy. Obama also fought the Islamic State while treating Iran — or if not Iran itself, then its ally Russia — as a partner in supposedly stabilizing the region.

Yaakov Amidror, formerly Israel’s national security adviser, says that if Iran keeps exploiting the ceasefire to boost its presence and power, “that might lead the IDF to intervene and to destroy every attempt to build infrastructure in Syria.”

Current Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman is only slightly less explicit, warning that:

The establishment of an air and sea base and the attempt to permanently station 5,000 Shiite fighters on Syrian soil are not acceptable to us, and will have heavy consequences.

Allowing Syria to become a launching pad for Iranian aggression is not the way to achieve stability. Israel and the U.S. will be conferring closely on the issue and hopefully will reach understanding and agreement.

]]>Anti-Israel Textbooks Turning Young Americans Against Israelhttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/91801/anti-israel-textbooks-turning-young-americans-israel-opinion/
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 04:00:17 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=91801Are American college students turning against Israel? A report on the JNS (Jewish News Service) site says that they are — and “according to some experts,” their high school textbooks are the reason for it.]]>

Are American college students turning against Israel? A report on the JNS (Jewish News Service) site says that they are — and “according to some experts,” their high school textbooks are the reason for it.

“According to the Brand Israel Group,” says JNS, only 54 percent of U.S. college students lean more toward Israel than the Palestinians, down from 73 percent in 2010. The decrease was even sharper among Jewish college students, dropping from 84 percent to 57 percent.

The Brand Israel Group, described by The Times of Israel as a “loose consortium of volunteer marketing and advertising executives,” has been sounding the alarm about the problem.

The problem starts in high school. … There’s no doubt the lack of sympathy for Israel on college campuses today is at least partly the result of several generations of teenagers being educated with textbooks that are slanted against Israel.

Among the most prominent of those textbooks is the Arab World Studies Notebook. It was authored by Audrey Parks Shabbas, a convert to Islam who, according to this site, “often tells her audience that she is both a Muslim and a Mayflower descendant who has lived nearly all her life in the United States.”

“Shabbas,” says JNS, “heads Arab World and Islamic Resources and School Services, a curriculum publisher that seeks to promote a positive image of Arabs and Muslims in U.S. schools.”

And, one might add, a negative image of Israel. Back in 2004, after parents in Anchorage, Alaska, complained about the Arab World Studies Notebook, the American Jewish Committee found it to be riddled with “overt bias and unabashed propagandizing,” such as depicting Israel as the aggressor in every Arab-Israeli war and praising Muslim conquerors throughout the ages for their “gentle treatment of civilian populations.”

Shabbas has said that the Notebook has gone out to more than 10,000 teachers, and “if each notebook teaches 250 students over 10 years, then you’ve reached 25 million students.”

That’s a lot of students reading that Israel “tortur[es] and murder[s] hundreds of Palestinian women.” In 2011, parents of students at Newton South High School (in the Boston suburb of Newton) complained about a passage from the Notebook that makes that charge. The book was supposedly pulled from the curriculum, but an investigation found it was “still being used in Newton as late as the 2013-2014 school year.”

In 2013, parents in Tennessee’s Williamson County complained about another textbook, The Cultural Landscape: An Invitation to Human Geography, which posted this inquiry to students: “If a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli government policies and army actions?”

Although the publisher, Pearson Education, removed the passage, a Christian pro-Israel activist named Laurie Cardoza-Moore told JNS that it was “only a partial victory, because The Cultural Landscape contains other biased statements against Israel that were not removed.”

“The problem,” said Alfonsi of Curriculum Watch, is that for every school that removes an anti-Israel text, there are a hundred more that are continuing to use it. … Now we are seeing anti-Israel in bias in texts going all the way down to the 4th grade. I’m concerned that many in the Jewish community still do not recognize how serious this problem is.

If American kids are getting an indoctrination about Israel similar to what is “taught” in the Palestinian Authority — with Israel depicted as a belligerent, consistently evil, deplorable country with no certain justification for its (or its citizens’) existence, and the Palestinians as its innocent victims—does it mean the days of the U.S.-Israeli alliance are numbered?

It may or it may not. One possibility is that, as Israel’s military and technological power and prowess keep increasing, the U.S. (like other countries) will simply want to ally with it out of practicality. Another possibility is that, as brainwashed Americans gradually get older and move into governmental and other positions of power, they’ll learn about tight U.S.-Israeli ties and about the real Israel beyond the hateful stereotypes.

For now, though, what appears to be a systematic effort to turn Americans against Israel from a young age seems to be getting results — to the point that even young American Jews sympathize with people who regard the murder of Israelis as heroic and Israel as a blot that must be removed.

]]>UN Secretary-General Launches Slanderous Attack on Israelhttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/89366/un-secretary-general-launches-slanderous-attack-israel-opinion/
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 05:00:17 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=89366At this time 50 years ago, Israel was fighting the Six Day War and conquering territories.]]>

At this time 50 years ago, Israel was fighting the Six Day War and conquering territories. Since then it has returned the Sinai to Egypt, withdrawn from Gaza, retained control of the Golan Heights, and created a self-governing Palestinian entity in part of the West Bank while retaining overall security control there.

This 50-year anniversary has seen a flood of statements lauding or lamenting the Six Day War and its outcomes for Israel. Statements of the former kind emphasize that the war gave Israel defensible borders, a close alliance with the United States (by showing that Israel was a regional power), and, eventually, peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.

Statements of the latter kind bemoan Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinians and describe it as a disaster that has to end — fast. And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offers some of the most egregious remarks in this vein.

“This occupation,” Guterres writes:

… has imposed a heavy humanitarian and development burden on the Palestinian people. Among them are generation after generation of Palestinians who have been compelled to grow up and live in ever more crowded refugee camps, many in abject poverty, and with little or no prospect of a better life for their children.

Further, he writes:

Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will remove a driver of violent extremism and terrorism in the Middle East and open the doors to cooperation, security, prosperity and human rights for all.

Let’s start with Guterres’ first claim about the alleged misery of Palestinian life since Israel took over the territory.

A few days before Guterres posted his statement, popular Israeli columnist Ben-Dror Yemini published a piece called “The truth about the occupation.” Yemini is not a right-winger; he wants Israel to eventually withdraw from most of the West Bank and separate from the Palestinians. But he also wants the discourse to be based on truth and not propaganda.

Yemini looks at some key elements of Palestinian life and compares the situations before and after the “Israeli occupation” (I use the scare quotes because Israel has withdrawn from Gaza and — except for anti-terror operations — Area A of the West Bank):

Education: Before the Six Day War in 1967, there was not a single university in the West Bank (under Jordanian rule) and Gaza (under Egyptian rule). “Today, there are more than 50 higher education institutions in the territories.”

Infant mortality: According to a Palestinian study and World Bank figures, the rate has gone from 152-162 per 1,000 live births in 1967 to: 132 in 1974, 53-56 in 1985, less than 30 in 1993, 25 in 2002, and 18 at present.

Yemini notes:

“The sharp drop, from 1976 to 1993, took place under direct Israeli rule. The drop continued under the Palestinian Authority, but at a more moderate pace.”

” … [The] infant mortality rate among the Palestinians is much lower than the global average of 31.7, and is significantly lower than the average in the Arab world — 28.”

Life expectancy: “[F]rom 48.6 in 1967 to about 73 (or 75, according to different sources) today.”

Writes Yemini:

“I can touch on more and more areas in which an objective examination will reveal an amazing improvement in the past 50 years. For example, in the area of water. In 1967, only four of 708 Palestinian towns and villages were connected to running water. Today, 643 communities are connected to running water (97% of the population).”

From the UN secretary-general’s description — “a heavy humanitarian and development burden on the Palestinian people … with little or no prospect of a better life for their children” — one would think Israel is mercilessly grinding the Palestinians down. The truth is very different.

Guterres’ description of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — “a driver of violent extremism and terrorism in the Middle East” whose resolution would “open the door” to some sort of utopia — is even more shockingly at variance with the truth.

Before the “Arab Spring” erupted in 2011, such claims about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being the cause of Middle East strife were par for the course.

Since then, the region has seen six years of apparently endless warfare — among Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, and Kurds, among Islamists and non-Islamists, and among armies, militias, and terror organizations of every conceivable stripe — from Yemen to Iraq to Syria to Egypt to Libya, accompanied by the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

To say that all these disparate groups are bombing, shooting, besieging, and even gassing each other because of the Israelis and the Palestinians is to make a mockery of reality.

]]>Memo to Trump: Arabs Still a Long Way From Accepting Israelhttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/88090/memo-trump-arabs-still-long-way-accepting-israel-opinion/
Mon, 15 May 2017 06:00:05 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=88090With Indian-Israeli ties flourishing, in July Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to become the first Indian prime minister ever to visit the Jewish state.]]>

With Indian-Israeli ties flourishing, in July Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to become the first Indian prime minister ever to visit the Jewish state.

And this month Air India is planning to launch a direct flight between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. The Hindu Business Line, however, reports that there’s a hitch: five Muslim countries are refusing to let the planes fly over them on their way to Israel.

The five countries are Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The refusal of the first two is unremarkable—and perhaps the same can be said about Afghanistan, though it’s a country that U.S. forces have been trying for years to help defeat Islamic extremism.

The latter two, however — Saudi Arabia and the UAE — are more worthy of note. Both are often mentioned as members of the “moderate Sunni camp” and are said — along with Jordan and Egypt — to have allied with Israel against Iran and ceased viewing it as an enemy.

That description, though, is hard to square with being unable to let Israel-bound Indian planes overfly their airspace.

President Trump, for his part, will be arriving in Israel for a two-day visit on May 22 straight from a visit to Saudi Arabia. Reportedly Trump will be setting a timetable of nine months to a year for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Although Trump has not been explicit about how such an agreement would be reached and what it would look like, many have claimed that the “moderate Sunni camp” could provide the supportive backdrop for the Palestinians finally to come to terms with Israel.

Undoubtedly, mostly-tacit Israeli strategic cooperation and economic ties with Sunni Arab states exist. But if those states are really ready to welcome Israel in what has been called a “regional peace,” they have strange ways of showing it.

A case in point is the anti-Israeli UNESCO vote on May 2, which portrayed Israel as the “occupying power” in all of Jerusalem, devoid of legal or historical ties to it. Almost all Arab and Muslim UNESCO members (only majority-Muslim Albania abstained) voted in favor.

The resolution was submitted by seven Arab states: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Sudan. Morocco is considered moderate, and Egypt has not only been formally at peace with Israel since 1979 but also gets much-needed Israeli help in fighting ISIS terror.

In any purported Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Jerusalem is certain to be one of the most difficult issues—if not the most difficult. This urge to erase Israel from the city, then, would not seem to augur well.

Other examples abound. Jordan has been formally at peace with Israel since 1994, and — behind the scenes — its government indeed takes a moderate line of security and economic cooperation with Israel.

Indeed, a 2011 Pew survey found almost monolithic anti-Semitism in Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Turkey, and Pakistan. The fact that, since then, Arab states that feel threatened by Iran and are in difficult economic straits have made pragmatic accommodations with powerful, technologically advanced Israel is a positive development — but it is way too early to inflate it into something it is not.

Pushing the Palestinians and their Arab brethren into a “process” with Israel that would be certain to fail, and very likely lead to recriminations, bitterness, and violence, would serve no positive purpose but could well derail even the slow, pragmatic progress that has been made so far.

]]>The New, “Moderate” Hamas: Severe Cruelty to Jewish and Arab Prisoners and their Familieshttps://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87707/new-moderate-hamas-severe-cruelty-jewish-arab-prisoners-families-opinion/
Mon, 08 May 2017 06:00:01 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=87707It would be nice to say the opposing Palestinian Authority/Fatah stream of the Palestinians is a lot better; but that is a different subject.]]>

The article quotes Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum: “The document gives us a chance to connect with the outside world…. We are a pragmatic and civilized movement….”

Yet, elsewhere in the report, even the Times is unable to get too enthused about the new “Document of General Principles and Policies.”

The Times notes that it “reiterates the Hamas leadership’s view that it is open to a Palestinian state along the borders established after the 1967 war, though it does not renounce future claims to Palestinian rule over what is now Israel.” Or in the document’s more emphatic words:

Palestine…extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west…the establishment of the Zionist entity therein do[es] not annul the right of the Palestinian people to their entire land and do[es] not entrench any rights therein for the usurping Zionist entity.

The Times also notes gingerly that the document “does not renounce violence.” Or as the document puts it:

The liberation of Palestine is the duty of the Palestinian people in particular and the duty of the Arab and Islamic Ummah in general…. Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws.

And the Times says the new document “specifically weakens language from [the] 1988 charter proclaiming Jews as enemies and comparing their views to Nazism.” The new document, however, says: “Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine.”

In other words, no problem with the Jews, as long as their state is destroyed.

And finally, the Times—which, despite all these bows to reality, gave the Doha press conference top billing as if it heralded a major change—acknowledges what all experts confirm: that the new document “does not replace the original charter,” which remains fully in force.

Why did Hamas makes this bid for a better image at this time? The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff notes that Hamas is in financial trouble:

Gulf states are closing the funding taps one by one and income from inside Gaza is dropping.

It is for this reason that the need arose to present a “friendlier face” to the world via this document of principles.

That and the intra-Palestinian struggle for power and influence; with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas set, at that time, to meet with President Trump in Washington on Wednesday, Hamas wanted to keep itself in the public eye and try to boost its respectability.

In what appears to be bad timing for the group, however, on Tuesday Human Rights Watch released a report that puts the “pragmatic and civilized movement” in a very negative light.

Significantly, Human Rights Watch is no friend of Israel. As NGO Monitor notes, HRW exhibits “a deep-seated ideological bias against Israel,” regularly accuses it of war crimes, calls for the boycott of Israeli communities in the West Bank, and much else.

In “2 Israelis Who Entered Gaza Held Incommunicado,” however, even HRW is unsparing in its criticism of Hamas.

The two Israelis are Avraham Mangistu, of Ethiopian Jewish background, and Hisham al-Sayed, of Muslim Bedouin background. Mangistu is believed to have wandered into Gaza in September 2014, Sayed in April 2015.

Both men, HRW notes, have “serious mental health conditions”;

Sayed was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and Mangistu spent time in a psychiatric hospital.

And while Hamas claims the men are soldiers, HRW found that they “were not combatants or affiliated with the Israeli government when they entered Gaza.” Mangistu was found unfit to serve, and Sayed, also found unfit, volunteered for service but was discharged after three months.

But none of that has availed the two unfortunate men, who have been held incommunicado since straying into Gaza. There have been no visits from rights groups, no contacts with their families, no indications about their condition.

Hamas’s “price”—just for information about the men—would be Israel’s release of 54 Hamas security prisoners.

Notwithstanding the ever so slightly spruced-up prose of its new document, it is, of course, the same Hamas as always—existing at the lowest depth of human depravity while claiming divine sanction for all its actions.

It would be nice to say the opposing Palestinian Authority/Fatah stream of the Palestinians is a lot better; but that is a different subject.

]]>Iran in Syria: A Gathering Storm?https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87617/iran-syria-gathering-storm-opinion/
Sun, 07 May 2017 05:00:06 +0000https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/?p=87617The mullahs want to target the “Little Satan” from across the border.]]>

The Iranian regime, as it has made clear in countless threats, rallies, and missile displays, wants to destroy Israel, the “Little Satan.”

Given Israel’s military might and, according to foreign reports, nuclear arsenal, Iran’s goal is probably unattainable. But the nearer Iran gets—or perceives itself to get—to that goal, the more warfare and instability is likely to ensue.

At present, thanks to Syria’s collapse into civil war and the Obama administration’s—at best—inept policy there, Iran is within reach of establishing a permanent military presence to Israel’s north—a surefire recipe for ongoing struggle and menace.

Israeli officials, Reuters reports, now estimate that Iran “commands at least 25,000 fighters in Syria, including members of its own Revolutionary Guard, Shi’ite militants from Iraq and recruits from Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Iran is also reportedly seeking a naval base in Syria, and, if it gains a lasting foothold in Israel’s northern neighbor, will undoubtedly want an airbase there as well.

The Reuters report notes that Israeli intelligence minister Yisrael Katz has been on Capitol Hill urging stepped-up U.S. threats and sanctions on Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hizballah. Israel wants Russia to rein in Iran, too—though whether Russia is willing is still in dispute.

Of particular concern are Iran’s efforts to establish a beachhead for itself and Hizballah on the northern Golan Heights, directly across the border from the Israeli-controlled southern Golan.

Iran’s naked aggression toward Israel was in evidence this week in a different kind of attack. The Israeli daily Haaretzreports:

Cybersecurity experts are convinced that Iran is behind the large-scale cyberattack revealed Wednesday by Israel’s Cyber Defense Authority. The attacks have been identified as being carried out by a hacker group known as OilRig, which has been tracked to Iran and is believed to be financed and directed by one of the Islamic Republic’s intelligence agencies.

OilRig…is known to have attacked in both government and private sector targets the past, focusing primarily on Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and Israel.

The recent attacks were aimed at at least 120 Israeli targets, including private companies, government departments, research institutes and hospitals…. It is unclear at this point whether the attack had any specific targets beyond creating damage in Israeli computer networks, and the extent of that damage is still being assessed.

Other reports, like this one, claim the cyberattack was successfully thwarted.

What is not in doubt is that the—for now—low-level war between Iran and Israel is not only continuing but intensifying. On Thursday it was reported that Israeli missiles fired from the Golan Heights hat hit and destroyed Iranian arms supplies in a Hizballah depot near Damascus International Airport.

A cyber attack on Israel, arms shipments to Hizballah, and provocative moves against the U.S. navy are—among much else—all in a week’s work for Iran.

Israeli officials are, though, well aware that the current administration has a much more sober view of the problem than the previous one, and more hopeful that, this time around, the forces of civilization will push back against a regime that has been sowing discord and death for almost four decades.